Sharp Turn - Marianne Delacourt [18]
‘You remember Edouardo?’ I said brightly.
The almond eyes slid over Ed and back to the TV. ‘Sure, sure. The young one.’
I felt a hot flush begin at my belly button and work its way up to my face. It was true, Ed was younger, but I didn’t need it pointed out so baldly.
‘Hoshi, turn that thing off,’ said Mrs Hara.
She slammed a huge dish of lasagna down on the wooden table, following it with a plate of hand-sized slabs of homemade garlic bread, Greek and French salads and a dish of baked eggplant drizzled in herbs and oil.
Ed couldn’t help an involuntary gasp of pleasure.
Mrs Hara’s frown shifted to a smile and I breathed out in relief.
We made companionable small talk and ate until I could no longer convince my stomach it had any space. While Ed and Mrs Hara cleared the table, Hoshi tapped my hand.
‘You do me a favour, Missy?’
‘Sure,’ I said, drunk on pasta and garlic love.
‘I gotta nightclub job on Friday night. Boss wants me to go watch the crowd. Been having some trouble there. Need to see who.’
That should be simple enough, I thought. Even though auras could be a bit indistinct at night, there was usually enough movement and glow in a crowd to see disturbances.
‘Mrs Hara doesn’t like me to go out so late. I’m thinking maybe you take the job, get the money,’ he added.
‘How much?’
Hoshi and I were always very direct about money. It was one of the reasons I liked working for him. That and the fact that he’d helped me turn my curse into something that could earn me a living.
When I’d met Hoshi, I’d been about to commit myself to an asylum. Seeing auras and being hypersensitive to people’s body language had been driving me totally nuts. I hadn’t been able to keep a decent relationship or a job. My life was crap. And lonely. Bok understood about the aura stuff, but dear Smitty just thought I was ‘different’.
Since learning I wasn’t the only one who could see such things, and finding out how to better manage my gift, my life had gained a semblance of control. Bottom line: Hoshi had saved me from myself. I could never say no to him if he asked for a favour; the money thing was just a formality.
‘Hundred dollar to turn up. Two hundred dollar if you find who cause trouble.’
Wow, things were looking up in the finances department. ‘Sounds okay. Now I need a favour in return.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Speak.’
‘Can you teach me some self-defence?’
‘You mean fight-fight?’ He made punching movements with his fists. ‘Take many years to learn my stuff. Much discipline.’
I sighed. ‘I know that, but Sammy Barbaro’s been found floating under a Freo jetty. I’m feeling a little insecure.’
‘Viaspa?’
‘I’m guessing.’
He got up and went over to a narrow sideboard. From inside the carved doors, he produced a tall narrow-necked bottle of clear fluid and four shot glasses.
‘Some things can be quick. You come soon, we practise.’
I nodded and lifted the shot glass he handed me to my lips. ‘Scull!’
‘Kampai!’ he replied.
Chapter 6
ED DROVE ME HOME, on account of Mr Hara breaking out the Sambuca and me being such an obliging guest. Thing was, Sambuca made me horny as hell and by the time Ed pulled up outside Lilac Street, the idea that he’d drive home and come back with the car in the morning seemed to have been forgotten.
We canoodled down the driveway, past the sleeping, covered galahs and paused near the pool gate. Things got hot and heavy pretty quickly from then on. I began to pull Ed down onto the grass but he resisted.
‘What about your parents?’ he muttered.
The thought of JoBob flashing a torch on Ed’s shapely naked butt penetrated the Sambuca haze in my brain and I lurched towards the door of my flat instead.
While I scrabbled around in my beach bag for my key, Ed’s hands began to wander to places they’d hereto never ventured. For a younger guy he seemed to know exactly what was what. Overcome by a wave of pure lust, I left the key in the lock and turned back to those warm, insistent fingers. I swear I couldn’t help myself when I pulled Ed’s shirt over his head